Taxmen recover Rs 30,000-crore black money

Taxmen recover Rs 30,000-crore black money

Taxmen have seized black money to the tune of a whopping Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) in the country in the past two years, said the Central Board of Direct Taxes which is set to get investigative powers to boost its drive against wrong-doers.

The CBDT is in the process of creating a Directorate of Criminal Investigation after getting approval from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last week.

CBDT chairman Sudhir Chandra said they have gone after big shots and every search or survey has yielded more than Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) in black money.

Taxmen recover Rs 30,000-crore black money

"We are also setting up a new dedicated and computerised exchange of information cell. Whatever information we want from countries, they can send it our cell, will coordinate with identical cells of foreign countries.

"CBDT is also in the process of creating a Directorate of Criminal Investigation. The Finance Minister has given his approval last week. We need infrastructure to support it," he said.

On the Liechtenstein accounts, he said the information what India got from them cannot even be shared with the Enforcement Directorate.

Taxmen recover Rs 30,000-crore black money

"We have identified tax havens. We have negotiated agreements with 14 countries. Three agreements with Bahamas, Nermuda and Isle of Man are already in place and we are getting information from these countries," he said.

He also said that there was a provision of declaring a country as non-cooperative jurisdiction if it does not share information.

"Once this is done, a company of that country doing business in India or an Indian company doing business with that country, there will be a higher withholding of tax," he said.